The witcher

Dark Alumna

The Last Wish (Polish: Ostatnie życzenie) is one of the two collections of short stories (the other being Sword of Destiny - Miecz przeznaczenia), preceding the main Witcher Saga, written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski. The first Polish edition was published in 1993, the first English edition in 2007. The book has also been translated into several other languages.

The collection employs the frame story framework and contains 7 main short stories; Geralt of Rivia, after having been injured in battle, rests in a temple. During that time he has flashbacks to recent events in his life, each of which forms a story of its own.

Blood of Elves (Polish original title: Krew elfów) is the first novel in the Witcher Saga written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski, first published in Poland in 1994 (English translation has been published in late 2008). It's a sequel to the Witcher short stories collected in the books The Last Wish and Miecz przeznaczenia (A Sword of Destiny) and is followed by Czas pogardy (The Time of Contempt). It was published in Czech Republic (Leonardo, 1995), Russia (AST, 1996), Spain (Bibliopolis, 2003), Lithuania (Eridanas, 2006), Germany (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2008) the United Kingdom (Gollancz, 2008) and most recently in the United States (Orbit, 2009).

Krew elfów was the winner of the Polish Janusz A. Zajdel Award for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel in 1994. In 2009 the book won the David Gemmell Legend Award in the United Kingdom.

Summary:

The Empire of Nilfgaard attacks and overwhelms the Kingdom of Cintra. Queen Calanthe of Cintra commits suicide and her granddaughter, Cirilla, called Ciri, or "Lion Cub of Cintra" somehow flees from the burning capital city. Emhyr var Emreis, Emperor of Nilfgaard, sends his spies to find her. He knows that this young girl has great importance, not only because of her royal blood, but also because of her magical potential and elven blood in her veins.

The girl is protected by Geralt of Rivia, a witcher - a magically and genetically mutated monster slayer for hire, and also a man whose destiny is bound with that of Ciri. Aided by several others including the famous bard Dandilion and a powerful sorceress named Yennefer, Geralt quickly learns of a man named Rience who is hunting Ciri relentlessly, aided by some powerful and influential allies.

As she learns the ways of both a witcher and a magic user, Ciri and those around her begin to realise that almost everybody wishes to either use her for her mysterious power or kill her so that such a power cannot become wielded by others.